Ping-post is a real-time lead distribution method where anonymized lead attributes are sent (pinged) to multiple buyers simultaneously. Interested buyers respond with a bid price, and the lead is sold (posted) to the highest bidder or best match.

What is a qualified lead?

A qualified lead is a consumer who has been verified to meet specific criteria set by the buyer, such as geographic location, service need, homeownership status, or other demographic and intent-based attributes.

Lead Generation Resources | Titan Lead Group, Inc.

Q: What is lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of identifying and attracting potential customers (leads) for a business's products or services. In performance marketing, leads are captured through online forms, phone calls, and other digital channels, then sold to service providers who can fulfill the consumer's needs.

What is Lead Generation?

Lead generation is the process of identifying, attracting, and capturing potential customers — known as "leads" — for a business's products or services. In the performance marketing industry, lead generation focuses on connecting consumers who have expressed an active interest in a service (such as home repair, legal help, insurance, or healthcare) with the businesses that provide those services.

Unlike traditional advertising where businesses pay for impressions or exposure, lead generation is performance-based. Businesses only pay when they receive an actual lead — a consumer who has filled out a form, called a phone number, or otherwise expressed their intent. This makes lead generation one of the most cost-effective customer acquisition strategies available.

The lead generation ecosystem involves several key players:

Consumers

People actively searching for services — they fill out forms, make calls, or click ads expressing their needs.

Publishers / Sellers

Website owners and marketers who generate leads through content, ads, SEO, and owned properties, then sell them to buyers.

Buyers / Advertisers

Service providers and businesses that purchase leads to connect with potential customers who need their services.

Why Titan Lead Group?

We operate as all three — our extensive portfolio of owned and operated websites generates leads that we distribute through our proprietary marketplace. This unique position allows us to control quality from source to sale, offering both buyers and sellers a premium experience.

How Ping-Post Works

Ping-post is the industry-standard method for real-time lead distribution. It's a two-phase process that maximizes value for sellers while ensuring buyers only pay for leads that match their criteria. Here's how it works:

1

The Ping

When a consumer submits a form on one of our websites, the system creates an anonymized "ping" containing key qualifying attributes — such as zip code, service type, project timeline, and property type — without any personally identifiable information (PII). This ping is simultaneously sent to all eligible buyers who have campaigns matching those attributes.

2

The Bid

Interested buyers evaluate the ping attributes against their campaign criteria and respond with a bid — the price they're willing to pay for the full lead. Multiple buyers can bid simultaneously, creating a competitive marketplace that maximizes revenue for sellers. Buyers can set automated bidding rules based on geography, lead type, time of day, and other factors.

3

The Post

The winning bid is selected based on price and other routing rules. The complete lead data — including the consumer's name, phone number, email, and detailed request information — is then "posted" (delivered) to the winning buyer in real time. The entire process happens in milliseconds, ensuring the consumer receives a prompt response.

Benefits of Ping-Post

Privacy

Consumer PII is never exposed during the bidding phase

Fair Pricing

Real-time bidding ensures market-driven pricing

Speed

Entire process completes in under 500 milliseconds

Types of Leads

Not all leads are created equal. Understanding the different types of leads helps buyers set appropriate expectations and pricing, and helps sellers position their inventory effectively.

Exclusive Leads

Sold to only one buyer. These command the highest prices because the buyer has no competition for the consumer's attention. Conversion rates are typically 3-5x higher than shared leads.

Highest Value

Shared Leads

Sold to multiple buyers (typically 3-5). More affordable than exclusive leads, but buyers must compete for the consumer's business. Speed-to-contact is critical with shared leads.

Cost Effective

Live Transfer Calls

Inbound phone calls where the consumer is pre-qualified through an IVR system and then transferred live to the buyer. These offer the highest intent and fastest path to conversion.

Highest Intent

Aged Leads

Leads that were generated days, weeks, or months ago but haven't converted. Sold at a significant discount, these can still provide value for businesses with strong follow-up processes.

Budget Option

Click Leads

Consumers who click on an ad and are directed to the buyer's website or landing page. The buyer pays per click and handles conversion on their own site. Lower cost, but requires strong landing page optimization.

Self-Service

Pricing Models

Lead pricing varies significantly based on vertical, geography, lead type, and market conditions. Here are the most common pricing models used in the industry:

Model	How It Works	Best For
Cost Per Lead (CPL)	Fixed or bid-based price per qualified lead delivered	Most verticals — simple and predictable
Cost Per Call (CPC)	Price per qualified inbound call exceeding a minimum duration (e.g., 90 seconds)	High-intent verticals like legal, insurance, home services
Revenue Share	Seller receives a percentage of the buyer's revenue from converted leads	Long-term partnerships with high-value conversions
Hybrid	Combination of a base CPL plus performance bonuses for conversions	Mature buyer-seller relationships
Ping-Post Auction	Real-time bidding where price is determined by market competition	High-volume, multi-buyer environments

What Affects Lead Pricing?

Vertical: Legal and insurance leads typically command higher prices ($20-$200+) compared to home services ($10-$80)
Geography: Leads from high-population, high-income areas often cost more
Exclusivity: Exclusive leads cost 2-5x more than shared leads
Intent Level: Live transfer calls are the most expensive; aged leads are the least
Time of Day: Business-hours leads typically sell at a premium
Seasonality: HVAC leads spike in summer/winter; roofing peaks after storm seasons

Titan Lead Group Advantage

Our ping-post marketplace enables real-time price discovery. Buyers set their maximum bids and targeting criteria, and our system automatically matches them with the best-fit leads at fair market prices. No manual negotiation required.

Quality & Compliance

Lead quality and regulatory compliance are the foundation of a sustainable lead generation business. At Titan Lead Group, we invest heavily in both to protect consumers, buyers, and sellers.

Quality Assurance Measures

Real-Time Validation

Phone numbers, email addresses, and postal codes are validated at the point of capture using third-party verification APIs.

Duplicate Detection

Our system checks incoming leads against recent submissions to prevent duplicate charges to buyers.

Fraud Scoring

Machine learning models assess lead quality in real time, flagging suspicious patterns like bot submissions and form abuse.

Source Monitoring

We continuously monitor seller performance metrics including contact rates, return rates, and conversion data.

Regulatory Compliance

We adhere to all applicable federal and state regulations governing lead generation, including:

TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act): All leads include proper prior express written consent. We enforce one-to-one consent standards and maintain comprehensive consent records.
CCPA/CPRA (California Consumer Privacy Act): We honor all California consumer privacy rights including access, deletion, and opt-out of sale requests.
CAN-SPAM Act: All email communications comply with anti-spam regulations including clear identification, opt-out mechanisms, and honest subject lines.
FTC Guidelines: Our advertising and lead capture practices comply with Federal Trade Commission guidelines on truthful advertising and disclosure.
State Regulations: We monitor and comply with state-specific telemarketing, privacy, and consumer protection laws across all 50 states.

Our Commitment

Compliance isn't just a checkbox — it's a competitive advantage. By maintaining the highest standards of data handling and consent management, we protect everyone in the ecosystem and build long-term trust with our partners.

Industry Glossary

A comprehensive reference of lead generation and performance marketing terms.

Aged Lead: A lead that was generated days, weeks, or months ago and has not yet been converted. Typically sold at a discounted rate compared to real-time leads.
Buyer: A business or service provider that purchases leads from a lead generation company or marketplace. Also known as an advertiser.
Campaign: A configured set of rules and criteria that define what types of leads a buyer wants to receive, including geography, vertical, bid price, caps, and schedule.
Cap: A limit set by a buyer on the number of leads they want to receive within a given time period (daily, weekly, or monthly).
Consent: Permission obtained from a consumer to be contacted by a specific company or set of companies. Under TCPA, prior express written consent is required for telemarketing calls and texts.
Contact Rate: The percentage of leads where the buyer successfully reaches the consumer by phone. A key quality metric — higher contact rates indicate better lead quality.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads that result in a desired outcome, such as a sale, appointment, or signed contract. The ultimate measure of lead ROI.
CPL (Cost Per Lead): The price a buyer pays for each lead received. This is the most common pricing model in lead generation.
DNC (Do Not Call): A list of phone numbers that have opted out of receiving telemarketing calls. Both federal (FTC) and state DNC lists must be honored.
Exclusive Lead: A lead that is sold to only one buyer. Higher priced but offers significantly better conversion rates since there is no competition.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response): An automated phone system that interacts with callers using voice prompts and keypad inputs to qualify and route calls before connecting them with a live agent.
Lead: A consumer who has expressed interest in a product or service by submitting a form, making a phone call, or engaging with an advertisement.
Live Transfer: A phone call where the consumer is pre-qualified by an IVR or live agent and then immediately connected (transferred) to the buyer's sales team.
O&O (Owned and Operated): Websites, apps, or other digital properties that are owned and directly managed by the lead generation company, as opposed to third-party traffic sources.
PII (Personally Identifiable Information): Data that can identify a specific individual, such as name, phone number, email address, or Social Security number. Handling PII requires strict compliance with privacy laws.
Ping: The first phase of the ping-post process where anonymized lead attributes are sent to potential buyers to solicit bids. No PII is shared in the ping.
Post: The second phase of the ping-post process where full lead data (including PII) is delivered to the winning buyer after a successful bid.
Publisher: A company or individual that generates leads through websites, advertising, or other channels and sells them to buyers or exchanges. Also known as a seller or affiliate.
Return Rate: The percentage of purchased leads that a buyer returns as invalid or non-qualifying. A key metric for monitoring source and seller quality.
Seller: A company or individual that generates leads and sells them through a lead marketplace or directly to buyers. Also known as a publisher.
Shared Lead: A lead that is sold to multiple buyers (typically 3-5). Less expensive than exclusive leads but requires faster follow-up due to competition.
Speed to Contact: The time between when a lead is delivered and when the buyer first contacts the consumer. Studies show contacting a lead within 5 minutes increases conversion rates by up to 400%.
TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act): Federal law that regulates telemarketing calls, text messages, and the use of automated dialing systems. Requires prior express written consent for marketing communications.
Vertical: An industry category or market segment, such as home services, legal, insurance, or healthcare. Each vertical has unique lead characteristics, pricing, and compliance requirements.
Win Rate: The percentage of pings where a buyer's bid wins and they receive the lead. Affected by bid price, campaign criteria breadth, and competition in the marketplace.

Lead Generation Resources